Garelick Farms truck crashes off I-495 in Milford, is recovered after eight hours

Allan Jung/Daily News staff
Drivers from several tow trucks set up to pull a Garelick Farms tractor-trailer from an Interstate 495 embankment near Exit 20 North in Milford on Monday.

By Danielle Ameden/Daily News staffGHS
Posted Mar 03, 2009 @ 12:27 AM

MILFORD —

It took five tow trucks, eight hours, and a whole lot of finesse, but crews recovered an 18-wheel Garelick Farms truck that shot off Interstate 495 North and landed about 100 feet down an embankment yesterday.
The big rig's driver, Patrick Delice, 29, of Randolph, was able to escape the cab with only minor injuries, officials say.
Delice had been hauling milk during the snowstorm when he lost control at about 9:30 a.m., just north of Exit 20. He was taken by ambulance to Milford Regional Medical Center, where a spokeswoman said he was treated and released.
Staring at the wreck, officials had two concerns: 50 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled when the truck crashed over a guardrail; and worries about electrocution as crews worked directly underneath high-tension power lines.
With the crash site near the Charles River, the fuel leak could have contaminated the river and town's drinking water supply, officials said.
Ed Coletta, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection, said prompt cleanup will prevent any major environmental impact.
Garelick Farms, headquartered in Franklin, hired Clean Harbors Environmental Services, which quickly responded and put down absorbent pads to mop up the fuel, Coletta said.
The Massachusetts Highway Department and state police closed the I-495 North Exit 20 on-ramp and multiple lanes of the highway - at times all northbound lanes - as Art's Auto Service of Milford worked to pull up the truck.
The effort lasted until late afternoon, when crews finished one of the toughest jobs Art's owner Brad Kaye recalls.
"We needed all of our equipment to get it," he said.
Fortunately, the 2000 Freightliner tractor-trailer truck didn't flip on its way down or up.
"It had to have been a pretty scary ride," said Milford Fire Lt. Patrick Salmon, watching the recovery effort.
When a fire crew arrived, Delice was on the side of the highway, wrapped in a bystander's blanket and complaining of back pain, said firefighter/EMT Neil Thomas, who helped treat the driver.
"He seemed to be in pretty good condition - obviously a little shaken up," Thomas said.
Crews used chains and cables to pull up the 60,000 pounds of dangling weight.
"You gotta take everything slow when it involves safety and lives," said Kaye, whose workers take safety classes and learn through experience.
The stress of the weight caused a chain to snap at one point, but, luckily, workers were behind the wreckers, so they weren't hit, Kaye said.
"That was close," Milford firefighter Tony Marcello said when the chain broke, watching the recovery from inside Engine 1.
Crews were careful not to come within 20 feet of the dangerous high-tension wires about 60 feet overhead, worried about the truck coming close or cables popping and a spark jumping, Kaye said.
This sort recovery work, he said, is "a definite science."

Crews used chains and cables to pull up the 60,000 pounds of dangling weight.
"You gotta take everything slow when it involves safety and lives," said Kaye, whose workers take safety classes and learn through experience.
The stress of the weight caused a chain to snap at one point, but, luckily, workers were behind the wreckers, so they weren't hit, Kaye said.

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Well then, apparently you had to much of a load on the chain then. So much for the training.... looking at the pic, all I see is straight runs of cable. Nothing through a snatch block to double it up. Basic recovery 101 there Art's. Just be glad you didn't kill anyone when that chain snapped.

Well then, apparently you had to much of a load on the chain then. So much for the training.... looking at the pic, all I see is straight runs of cable. Nothing through a snatch block to double it up. Basic recovery 101 there Art's. Just be glad you didn't kill anyone when that chain snapped.

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I guess I wasn't only one who saw that episode of "Dirty Jobs" when Mike Rowe had to get that Humvee out of the sand pit.